The process for the election of the president of the DP is taking place amid strong controversy, as all the candidates have been excluded, while Sali Berisha will be the only one in the race. Among the names left out are the former deputy Ervin Salianji, the deputy president of FRPD, Alesia Balliu, the activist Evi Kokalari and the member of DP, Mereme Sula.
Under these conditions, only Sali Berisha remained in the race, turning the process into a formality that is being criticized as lacking pluralism and a real alternative. A single-candidate race does not meet the minimum standards of a competitive electoral process, significantly diluting the legitimacy of the outcome.
On the other hand, the excluded candidates have warned that they will follow the legal ways to oppose this process and to prevent the reconfirmation of Sali Berisha as the head of the Democratic Party. Salianji, Balliu and Kokalari claim that their exclusion contradicts the Statute and the democratic principles that should guide a political party.
In this context, the elections for the president of the DP are being perceived in a mocking way as “Berisha against… Berisha”, a process where the lack of real competition raises serious questions about the functioning of internal democracy in the party.
In quite a few cases, Sali Berisha has attacked Edi Rama’s behavior towards the processes in the SP where there was no election but reconfirmation of the chairman, given that it is the winning party in every pair of elections since 2013. And in fact, it is Sali Berisha himself who is imitating Edi Rama in a DP which has entered its 14th year in opposition.
